Roommates With Benefits [BL]

"Maybe," Jeremy shrugged, now showing no fear. "You know what really bothered me, Damien? You never even gave me a chance."

"There was never a chance," Damien stated firmly.

"Because of your family?"

"Because I didn’t want you."

Jeremy’s smile faltered again.

"You’ve spent years blaming everyone else for that," Damien said coldly.

Jeremy’s jaw clenched.

"We were supposed to be together!" he insisted.

"No," Damien replied resolutely.

"You knew what we had," Jeremy pressed.

"We had nothing," Damien countered. "You’ve deluded yourself that I was supposed to fall for you?"

Jeremy’s breathing quickened as he grew increasingly agitated.

"We grew up together," he argued.

"And?" Damien shot back, unimpressed.

"You were supposed to understand me more than anyone else!" Jeremy spat.

"Oh, I understood you just fine," Damien said, his eyes icy. "That’s why I stayed away, I always knew there was something wrong with you Jeremy. I just couldn’t figure out what it was."

Something in Jeremy finally broke.Then, looking at me, he said, "And then you showed up."

I stood my ground.

"You couldn’t have picked someone else?!" he asked, his expression contorted.

"You stole him from me," he retorted, accusingly.

"I didn’t take anyone," I asserted. "I had no idea you wanted him, you fucking psycho!" I shouted back.

Jeremy laughed again.

"That’s the point," he said, closing the distance. "A poor bitch like you were never supposed to matter to him."

My heart raced.

Jeremy’s gaze swept over me slowly.

"And honestly, it’s a shame," he added.

I frowned. "What’s a shame?"

"You could’ve made things so much easier if you’d given me a chance too," he said slyly.

Damien’s voice sliced through the tension. "Don’t."

Jeremy brushed him off. " If only you were dumb enough to fall for my plan completely...I would’ve liked to fuck that ass at least once or twice before watching your relationship with Damien fall apart," he said, his lewdness making my stomach churn.

Damien reacted at that, I caught his arm before he could lunge at Jeremy.

"Damien," I protested.

His body was rigid under my grip.

"Let me go," he said through clenched teeth.

"No," I insisted.

"Oliver," he warned.

"We need the rest of the truth," I said, my voice firm.

Damien didn’t take his eyes off Jeremy, for a moment, I feared he’d ignore me. But slowly, his shoulders relaxed, and he moved back and Jeremy smiled.

"See? Still playing the protector," he said smugly.

I let go of Damien’s arm, feeling a mix of tension and relief as Jeremy looked pleased with himself.

"I knew you would," he gloated.

Damien’s expression hardened.

"You’ve mixed restraint with weakness," he shot back.

Jeremy laughed again.

"You’re still pretending you don’t care," he taunted.

"I care," Damien replied, his voice low. "Just not about you."

The smile vanished from Jeremy’s face.

As Damien stepped closer, he added, "I will never want you. I never have, and I never will."

Jeremy’s face flushed. "You’re lying," he accused.

"I’m not," Damien insisted.

"You’ve been rejecting me for years," Jeremy huffed.

"Yes," Damien affirmed.

"Because of him?" Jeremy asked, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice.

"Because of you," Damien said firmly. "There’s something seriously wrong with you, Jeremy. You need help."

Silence filled the room, tight and painful. Jeremy stared at him, his demeanor shifting as if something had snapped within him.

"You...you think this ends here?!" he challenged.

Damien remained silent, gaze unyielding.

"If I can’t have you, then nobody will! I’ll continue to take away everyone and everything that’ll ever bring you happiness!" Jeremy spat, voice rising.

My heart raced.

"The photos were meant to ruin you," he added.

Damien’s jaw clenched, but he wouldn’t give Jeremy the satisfaction of a reaction.

"They did," he replied quietly.

"Good," Jeremy said, a twisted satisfaction in his tone.

"And the inheritance?" Damien prompted, catching his breath.

Jeremy chuckled.

"Bonus," he said flippantly.

"And the blackmail?" Damien pressed further.

"Money," Jeremy shrugged.

"I thought if I was going to mess up your lives, I might as well get something out of it on the side."

I stared at him in disbelief.

All the months, all the conversations, all the times I’d trusted him came crashing down around me.

A surge of heat climbed up my chest, it started softly and built up in volume.

"You two are pathetic," Jeremy said, shaking his head at us.

I shot back, offended. "Excuse me?"

"Look at you," he sneered.

"He sacrificed everything for you..mhis inheritance, his family, his money," he said, pointing at Damien.

Jeremy’s grin returned, cocky as ever.

"And for what?" he asked, gesturing at me. "You? You are of no importance, Oliver. No money, no good background, no actual family...you’re nothing!"

Finally, something inside me snapped.

I didn’t think, didn’t plan...one moment, I was next to Damien, and the next, I was standing in front of Jeremy and my fist collided with his face.

Pain shot through my knuckles, but it barely registered and Jeremy stumbled backward, crashing against the table.

"You fucking bastard—!"

I punched him again, fueled by months of bottled-up anger, every picture, every lie, every time I had smiled at him while he plotted against us.

"You stalked us!" I shouted, throwing another punch. "You fucking lied to me!"

Another hit landed.

"You ruined everything!" I yelled, grabbing his shirt to pull him closer. "You goddamn douchebag! You cost Damien his family!"

He swore under his breath, I struck him again and again, and that’s when I saw blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

For some reason, that’s when Damien finally intervened.

"Oliver!" he said, wrapping his arms around my chest and pulling me back. I instinctively fought against him.

So much for anger management.

"Let me go, Damien! I’m going to kill this motherfucker!" I screamed. "I’m gonna rip his dick off and fucking feed to him! Fucking bitch!"

"No, Oliver stop!" he said, voice firm.

"Damien, let me go!"

He held me tightly.

"Oliver," he said, calm but serious.

"I hate him!" I shouted, trying to break free.

"I know," Damien replied softly.

"He used me!"

"I know," he reiterated.

"He ruined everything!"

"Hey, hey...it’s okay," he said again, holding me firmly against him, one arm around my waist while his other hand caught my wrist before I could lash out again.

"That’s enough," he declared.

I looked over his shoulder at Jeremy.

He lay on the ground, blood pooling at his lip, he looked almost gleeful about it. That thought made me angrier.

This guy was completely insane. My God! How come I never saw it?!

"You find this funny, dickwad?" I asked, disgusted. "You better thank fuck I didn’t get the chance to beat your ass properly!"

He wiped his mouth and smirked.

"You finally understand," he said, almost smugly.

I strained to break free again to rearrange Jeremy’s face some more, but Damien tightened his grip.

"Don’t," he warned. "Oliver, please!"

My fists were still clenched, and the throb in my knuckles was finally catching up with me.

The neon lights bathed the room in a strange, ugly glow, making the blood on Jeremy’s face look darker than it probably was.

I looked at my hand, then at the scattered photographs.

And then back at Jeremy.

I had spent so long wondering who had been watching us, who had been taking those images, who had been picking apart our lives from behind the scenes.

Now I knew.

And somehow, knowing felt much worse.

Because the person behind it all wasn’t some anonymous stranger.

It had been someone I knew, someone I’d welcomed into my life.

Someone I’d sat next to while patiently explaining psychological as he secretly gathered evidence against us. Honestly, I was starting to think tutoring was a terrible career choice.

Damien’s chin rested briefly on my shoulder as he whispered, "Are you hurt?"

I swallowed hard.

"My hand," I admitted softly.

He glanced down at my knuckles, concern etched on his face.

Then he turned back to Jeremy, the atmosphere chilled once more.

"We’re not done here," he said, eyes cold as ice.

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